Which Cities Are Potential Contenders For Amazon's New HQ?

With up to 50,000 jobs, a $5 billion campus and the appeal of a $466 billion company at stake, city governments are surely scrambling to file their bids for Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN’s new corporate site.

“We expect HQ2 to be a full equal to our Seattle headquarters,” Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos said in a Thursday press release, noting that the original campus and its 40,000-plus employees contributed $38 billion to Seattle’s economy between 2010 and 2016. Public transit earned $43 billion in Amazon dough, and the firm lured attractive friends, prompting a surge in Fortune 500 companies from seven to 31.

Amazon’s second home could be a similar regional boon. The company expects the construction project, alone, to pump tens of billions of dollars into the host community and create tens of thousands of jobs.

Who's Eligible?

Amazon hasn’t specified locales of interest but instead outlined standards for ideal applicants.

“We are looking for a location with strong local and regional talent — particularly in software development and related fields — as well as a stable and business-friendly environment to continue hiring and innovating on behalf of our customers,” according to Amazon’s website.

Ideally, it seeks a city or suburb with a population beyond 1 million, and bonus points are awarded for readiness to host an urban campus with a layout similar to that of Seattle’s site.

So a populous, tech-oriented metropolitan area with space for expansive development. Residents are already making pitches.

Austin?

Detroit?

Philadelphia?

Washington, D.C.?

Boston?

Vancouver?

Toronto?

Atlanta? Houston? Pittsburgh?

Amazon will accept proposals through Oct. 18 and will announce its new home in 2018.